More than 100 海角社区 undergraduate students were named to the 2025 Summer Semester Dean鈥檚 List. The 海角社区 Dean鈥檚 List recognizes those full-time students who have achieved a grade point average of 3.50 or higher and those part-time students who have achieved a grade point average of 3.75 or higher in a given term.
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Students who wish to notify their hometown newspapers of their achievement can do so at their discretion using a .
海角社区 Assistant Professor of Psychology Gisel Suarez Bonilla ’18 and TRIO McNair Scholars Program Director Maria “Tina” Tavera were recently interviewed by the Minnesota Star Tribune about funding uncertainty for federal TRIO programs. TRIO includes eight programs targeted to serve and assist low-income individuals, first-generation college students, and individuals with disabilities to progress through the academic pipeline from middle school to postbaccalaureate programs.
“Each [program] helps a slightly different population get into college or be successful in college,鈥� Tavera said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e setting an example and they鈥檙e guiding the whole family to learn about the academic system.”
Augsburg operates two TRIO programs. TRIO Student Support Services provides comprehensive academic, financial, and personal planning and support for up to 160 students as they progress toward graduation. TRIO McNair Scholars supports 26 juniors and seniors annually in preparing for graduate study.
Muhiyadin “Mo” Aden ’24 MSPAS worked his way up from a starting position as a casual Somali interpreter to head of Hennepin County Medical Center’s interpreter department before deciding he could make a bigger impact with a medical degree. After graduating from Augsburg’s Master of Science in Physican Assistant Studies program, he returned to HCMC鈥攖his time as a provider in the emergency department.
The Sahan Journal recently profiled Aden, who described his work to connect with patients:
鈥淭his is a hospital that serves people that are underserved 鈥� 20% to 30% of the patients that we see here have limited English proficiency. That鈥檚 a huge challenge to provide care for those patients, but I think they do the best they can, and that鈥檚 why I came back.鈥�
Read more:
The 海角社区 community mourns the tragic assassination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, as well as the attempted assassination of Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, on June 14. Our prayers are with their families and neighbors in this distressing time.聽
Both Representative Hortman and Senator Hoffman have been exemplary public servants who shared our deep commitments to the role of education in Minnesota and beyond. We will miss Speaker Hortman鈥檚 keen intellect, calm demeanor, and political savvy, and we wish Senator Hoffman a speedy recovery.
We live in polarized times, which, as we teach our students, require empathy and grace if we are to live together. Violence is never the way forward and we grieve this moment for all of us.
On March 6, The Washington Post featured Augsburg second-year Anna Miranda and Stephanie Ruckel, director of strategic enrollment management, in an article exploring the movement towards direct admissions across higher education. Augsburg moved to a direct admissions model as part of its Augsburg Applies to You initiative in 2022, and participates in the state Direct 海角社区 Minnesota program.
“Getting the [direct admissions] letter kind of knocked down a barrier,鈥� Miranda said in the interview. 鈥淚t made me feel more confident.鈥� Ruckel noted that direct admissions can be particularly helpful to first-generation students, easing the fear of rejection and encouraging students to ask more probing questions about whether the school is a fit.
Read the full article via The Washington Post:
MPR News and Sahan Journal recently highlighted Nia-Symonne Gayle 鈥�24 and her senior exhibition project 鈥淕OOD Hair,鈥� currently displayed in the Christensen Gallery through February 19. Gayle graduated as an art and design major in December, and her capstone project recreates her childhood living room where her mom would do her hair鈥攊ncluding TV, magazines, and hair products associated with the Afro-nostalgia Gayle incorporates into her work. She says this project 鈥渋s a love letter to her mother and to Black people and Black culture. It鈥檚 a reminder that all hair is good hair.鈥澛犅�
Read more about the project from or and learn more about Augsburg鈥檚 .
In a January 22 opinion piece published in MinnPost, 海角社区 President Paul C. Pribbenow joined the presidents of 16 other private colleges in advocating for need-based financial aid for all Minnesota students. In it, the presidents argued for greater investment in the Minnesota State Grant program and financial aid fairness for low-income students regardless of where in the state they attend college.
“Public colleges alone cannot solve our social and economic challenges, nor should they be expected to do so,” they wrote. “Private nonprofit colleges serve these same public purposes. To meet its workforce development and social mobility goals, the state needs to increase financial investments in all students with demonstrated need and take full advantage of all of Minnesota鈥檚 educational assets鈥攊ncluding its stellar private colleges.”
Najeeba Syeed, El-Hibri Endowed Chair and executive director of the Interfaith Institute at 海角社区, was interviewed by national media about the devastating fires in Southern California, which have destroyed at least a dozen houses of worship in the Los Angeles area.聽
In a with Religion News Service, Syeed called attention to the long history of interfaith cooperation in Altadena, CA, where religious leaders have banded together to support victims of the fires even as they mourn the loss of sacred spaces.聽
“They鈥檙e helping their own communities, but they鈥檙e also stepping up and stepping beyond and helping each other,鈥� she said. “That鈥檚 part of the story鈥攆aith communities, even when they are damaged, still show up for the broader community.”
Religion News Service published a by Syeed highlighting the ways that local youth have led volunteer recovery efforts across faiths, ethnicities, and languages. “[Our teens’] continued service and their steady moral compass make me excited to see the world they will run,” she wrote. “A world in which we don鈥檛 need a litmus test on your beliefs before we offer care, where your story is important to share no matter which income bracket you come from. A world in which the measure of our humanity is how much we show up for each other with an embodied empathy that asks, “What do you need, dear friend, who I may not know? Let me be there for you.””
Syeed was also interviewed for a about calls from local leaders to focus on equity and justice in rebuilding. In it, she lifted up the long-standing interfaith connections in Pasadena and Altadena. “People knew each other in the neighborhood and worked together before the fires,鈥� she said. “What you鈥檙e seeing now is an outpouring of those relationships.”
An international group of scholars has issued a statement denouncing the misuse of the legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in support of political violence and Christian nationalism in the U.S. Augsburg faculty member Lori Brandt Hale, an internationally recognized Bonhoeffer scholar, co-authored the statement alongside several members of the , where she serves as president of the English Language Section. Brandt Hale was interviewed by about the project.
Bonhoeffer, a German theologian and anti-Nazi dissident, was executed by the Nazi regime in 1945 for his participation in a conspiracy against Hitler.聽
鈥淎ny attempt to invoke Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his resistance against Hitler as a reason to engage in political violence in our contemporary context must be strongly opposed,鈥� the reads. 鈥淒ietrich Bonhoeffer himself provides the best defense against these misuses of his life and work. He did not ask, 鈥渉ow far will you go?鈥� He did not ask, 鈥渋s this a Bonhoeffer moment?鈥� Bonhoeffer鈥檚 life was defined by the question, 鈥淲ho is Christ for us today?鈥� With this question, Bonhoeffer teaches us that Christ is to be found in the presence and suffering of the neighbor, whether across the street or across the border. With this question, he has inspired Christians and non-Christians around the world to work for a society based on solidarity and humanity.鈥�
The statement has been co-signed by prominent scholars and church leaders in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop emeritus, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and former president, Lutheran World Federation; Susan C. Johnson, national bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada; Karen Georgia Thompson, general minister and president/CEO, United Church of Christ; Konrad Raiser, general secretary emeritus, World Council of Churches; Kirsten Fehrs, acting chair, Council of the Protestant Church in Germany; Christian Krieger, president, Conference of European Churches; and Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury.聽
Following the release of the statement, 86 of the 100 living descendants of the Bonhoeffer siblings published an open letter, echoing the scholars鈥� concerns. It is the family鈥檚 first public statement about Dietrich Bonhoeffer since 1945.聽
Professor Brandt Hale specializes in Bonhoeffer鈥檚 life and legacy in her research, teaching, and public scholarship. She is the co-author, with Stephen Haynes, of 鈥淏onhoeffer for Armchair Theologians鈥� (Westminster John Knox, 2009) and the co-editor, with W. David Hall, of 鈥淒ietrich Bonhoeffer, Theology, and Political Resistance鈥� (Lexington Books, 2020). She was a keynote panelist at 鈥淒emocracy and Discipleship鈥擫essons from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Polarized Times,鈥� a two-day conference hosted at Augsburg in July 2024. Professor Brandt Hale currently also serves as the director of Augsburg鈥檚 school of humanities and social sciences and teaches in the department of religion and philosophy.
In a published by the Minnesota Star Tribune, Augsburg President Paul Pribbenow argued that urban colleges and universities are uniquely positioned to cultivate an inclusive democracy.聽
鈥淲hat does it look like for higher education to be place-based, to settle into urban settings and be good neighbors, and to believe that our academic missions compel us to both educate students and care about the world into which they will graduate?鈥� he wrote. 鈥�… It鈥檚 not simply a matter of sending individual students out into the city. One-way engagement is not sustainable. Instead, place-making work only succeeds if it is grounded in mutual benefit with community partners.鈥�
The article marks the upcoming , co-hosted this year in Minneapolis by Augsburg, Metro State University, St. Paul College and the University of Minnesota.聽
